Friday, 23 July 2010

GB fizzle out against Finns despite Pops return

Great Britain were beaten 81-77 by Finland in a friendly in Cobham on Friday night as Chris Finch’s men were left searching for their first win ahead of the European Championships.

With ex-NBA forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu and point guard Justin Robinson returning to the line-up, GB lost an early lead as their guests drew level at 22-22.

With Nate Reinking scoring 15 of his team-high 18 points before the interval, the hosts moved 46-41 ahead at half-time but their advantage was slowly erased by the powerful Finns.

61-56 ahead at the start of the fourth quarter, Finland never allowed GB - who missed six free-throws in the dying minutes - to regain the critical momentum they needed and they claimed victory in the three-team tournament over Canada.

Finch now takes his team to Tel Aviv for a four team event against Israel, Belgium and the Netherlands which begins on Monday.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's women lost 72-62 to Netherlands in Utrecht as they paid for a slow start in their third game of their Benelux tour. Jeneya Wade-Frey led the scoring with 18 pts and Kim Butler, returning after injury, had 15 and 9 rebounds.

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